Beating Burnout: Swati Kameswar Of Activate Your Truth and Power On The 5 Things You Should Do If You Are Experiencing Work Burnout

An Interview With Jake Frankel

Bring back balance: We experience imbalance due to incorrect use of life force energy. Putting out too much energy (constant doing) but not refilling adequately or not giving yourself the self-care that you uniquely need leads to imbalance which leads to burnout.

Millions of Americans are returning back to work after being home during the pandemic. While this has been exciting for many, some are feeling burned out by their work. What do you do if you are feeling burned out by your work? How do you reverse it? How can you “get your mojo back”? What can employers do to help their staff reverse burnout?

In this interview series called “Beating Burnout: 5 Things You Should Do If You Are Experiencing Work Burnout,” we are talking to successful business leaders, HR leaders, and mental health leaders who can share insights from their experience about how we can “Beat Burnout.”.

As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Swati Kameswar.

Swati Kameswar is a Visionary Coach helping individuals in their 30s/40s/50s to transform midlife crisis into midlife awakening by activating the power of their authentic voice.

After 2 decades in the world of engineering and management, she found her calling in midlife to help others express their genius through their voice.

She specializes in helping individuals transform career burnout into passion, uncover hidden skills, embrace their unique ideas, and speak with authority, so they can experience growth and recognition in their chosen career and set up the second half of their life for meaningful, authentic & joyful success. You can learn more about her courses and workshops at https://activateyourtruthandpower.com/

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive into the main focus of our interview, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?

I was born in Mumbai India and lived there till my early twenties. As a child, I loved to paint, read and be in nature. Both my parents were engineers and very unconventional. They went through a big awakening phase in their 40s, that was catalyzed by challenges in the environment that we lived in. This expanded their minds and opened their hearts. Their awakening had a big impact on how I was raised, and it influenced my own midlife awakening phase in a big way. Being good at science & math meant that I followed the conventional career path and became an engineer myself. I came to the US to pursue higher studies and have lived here since then. The seeds sowed by my parents’ experiences and interest in higher consciousness had a big impact on my own life and eventually paved the way for my career change from engineer to visionary coach/astrologer/artist.

What or who inspired you to pursue your career? We’d love to hear the story.

I have had 2 careers so far. I started off as an engineer and worked in that field for 20+ years. About 10 years ago, I was experiencing burnout; I had been very successful but felt disillusioned with the success. I found myself going through an awakening and asking the questions, ‘What is my life purpose — what was I born to do? And, what if I reach the end of my life and don’t do what I came here to do?’ The search for answers to these questions had me go through deep personal transformation and transform that burnout into passion and life-purpose, awakening my own unique voice.

I learned at the time that the midlife crisis I was going through was directly related to midlife planetary transits. Also, that this is something everyone experiences in the mid-30s/40s/50s. Intrigued because it matched my experience so perfectly, my interest in astrology ignited and I learned to transform the disillusionment into true passion. Studying astrology enabled me to understand human nature in a deep way, how we sabotage ourselves, our true potential and how to reach it, and to utilize the timings of our life that create experiences of initiation, which then become a catalyst for healing and positive change. I was inspired to become a coach when I saw how transformational this path was for myself and how important it was to do what is authentic to me. I wanted to be able to create this big transformation for others. The person who inspired me to become a coach was Joanna Lindenbaum. Her dedication to helping practitioners grow, fearlessly going deep into sabotaging patterns and holding a loving space for a client’s personal transformation touched my heart. I ultimately went on to study with her and became a coach in her Sacred Depths Methodology.

None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Was there a particular person who you feel gave you the most help or encouragement to be who you are today? Can you share a story about that?

Rather than one person, there were several who by embodying their own uniqueness, doing the thing that called to their heart inspired me in a big way My parents became entrepreneurs in their 30s, so I grew up seeing them have a very unconventional career despite having a conventional educational background. I saw my father learning and picking up brand new skills unrelated to his formal education with enthusiasm, and how that heartfelt interest opened career pathways for him. This was probably the most encouraging thing for me when I was looking to change my career, into something very different from my education and initial training. The boldness that my father expressed, when it came to pursuing an unconventional career and life path gave me a lot of encouragement.

Can you share the funniest or most interesting mistake that occurred to you in the course of your career? What lesson or takeaway did you learn from that?

I remember an incident from my teens. I had done very well in the exams after high school and because of my success, I was invited to speak at my elementary school. However, I was so nervous that when it came time to speak, I completely forgot my own name! It was embarrassing at the time but the one thing it taught me was compassion for myself. I learned from that experience that big emotions can come up in any situation, even with success! Every time I thought back to that incident, I let myself feel compassion for the self that was bravely standing there, aspiring to inspire young minds. Each time the embarrassment faded away a bit more. Now I know after having gone through so many changes in life, that healing emotions is a big part of how our authentic voice and expression comes through and that self-compassion is a beautiful way to hold space for your own growth.

Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does that resonate with you so much?

“Life is mostly froth and bubble, Two things stand like stone, Kindness in another’s trouble, Courage in our own”, by Adam Lindsay Gordon.

When I first read this quote in a book many years ago, it spoke to my heart. At the time, I found myself at a low point in my life, going through many challenges. At a time when I was very disillusioned, this quote reminded me of one of my core values which is kindness, to self & others.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? How do you think that might help people?

My coaching programs and workshops focus on helping people find their authentic voice, to open a pathway to transform career burnout into authentic passion. One of the tools I recently added, through my training as an Intentional Creativity Teacher, is creative processes to facilitate personal transformation and activate their true voice. Scientific research shows how Creativity impacts the brain positively and I find that adding Intentional Creativity to my coaching practice as well as workshops is powerful in transforming the inner critic into a voice of inspiration and empowerment. This is hugely beneficial, because having access to a strong, kind, loving voice within, that we trust, allows us to navigate the inevitable ups & downs in life with grace, awakens our unique gifts and reaching our highest potential becomes not only accessible but also joyful!

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1) Self-trust: 100% trust in myself and my inner voice. So often when I have made changes in my life, it was my own belief in myself and a recognition of my unique ideas & capabilities that kept me going, even when externally that was not obvious. My inner voice is a strong, kind, loving voice that has access to a bigger picture that allows me to be comfortable even in the unknown. This is a key trait when it came to making big changes in my life, even when others around me didn’t really get the significance of why I was doing those things.

2) Authenticity: Integrity of expression of my unique self. It’s important to me that I express my own authentic voice in whatever I do and be bold enough to allow my uniqueness to be expressed through my work. This has taken work, to dissolve the fear of sharing my unique views, but it is a key value of mine. I developed this trait in my career as I dissolved burnout, found my authentic passion, and transformed my career to live that passion. As an example, as an astrologer I bring my own unique way of working with the natal chart — By combining Intentional Creativity with clues from the astrology natal chart, to help people uncover their hidden skills and bring it into their life and career.

3) Courage to go into the unknown. Being unafraid to dive deep into the patterns that hold me back. For example, when I learned that midlife crisis was due to midlife planetary transits that will bring up misaligned patterns for resolution, I dove into this transformation with full commitment and courage. Being able to face the self-sabotaging patterns, and lovingly holding space for it to transform has been an important trait that has supported my own transformation. It’s a very powerful thing to be able to hold unconditional love and support for your own self for that is when you start to find those authentic unique qualities that are true to you.

For the benefit of our readers, can you briefly let us know why you are an authority on the topic of burnout?

In the early stages of my career, I experienced burnout thrice. Each time, there was mental overwhelm, too many things to take care of and many responsibilities. It was accompanied by physical tiredness, no adequate rest, and even the rest I gave myself didn’t rejuvenate. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Even though I enjoyed my work, each time I went back to it, it became harder to do so, till I lost interest. And I was not motivated, even if I knew I would be rewarded for it. Emotionally, this was exhausting, to live life without enthusiasm.

The final time this happened, I told myself — This is getting old. I don’t want to be in this space again! And I started to recognize the signs of burnout which was extreme imbalance and took steps to come back into balance before it escalated. For me, this meant that to balance the left-brain activity of my career at the time, I needed a large amount of right brain activity to feel whole — I needed regular time in nature and creativity, both of which truly recharged me.

This was not the end of the story though. Years later, I experienced burnout again but for a different reason. I had been very successful in my life and career but felt disillusioned with the success. I then realized that burnout can also happen from not doing the things that we were born to do, and when our authentic voice is not being expressed.

This can show up in your career, even if you are good at it and taking care of yourself. I started to observe the signs of career burnout related to not doing the thing we love to do or that we are meant to do aka life purpose.

I found myself going through an awakening and asking the questions, ‘What is my life purpose? And, what if I reach the end of my life and don’t do what I came here to do, even if I have success and irrespective of titles and roles?’ This last part of the question kept me up at night. The search for answers to these questions had me transform career burnout into brand new skills and awoke my own unique voice.

My skill set now includes Transformational Coaching, Astrology & Intentional Creativity. Through these I help individuals transform burnout and reclaim the joy in their life & career, to find the thing that lights up their heart and develop a sustainable path to their calling so they can set up the 2nd half of their life for meaningful, authentic & joyful success.

Ok, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview about beating burnout. Let’s begin with a basic definition of terms so that all of us are on the same page. How do you define “Burnout”? Can you explain?

Burnout indicates exhaustion, tiredness, lack of energy resulting from imbalance.

I work with burnout in the context of career, so I will address it from that perspective.

It may mean that you have no energy to do something anymore. That you may have overspent your energy and are tired & overwhelmed. Lack of enthusiasm, dragging yourself to do a task or go through the day, even reaching a point where you cannot bear to do this thing (this task, this job, this career) anymore. Even success may get demotivating when one is burned out.

In my experience, the common signs of burnout are:

Physical exhaustion: tiredness, feel spent like you have no more to give, the juice has gone out of life, low energy, no adequate rest, or feeling tired even when you give yourself rest.

Mental exhaustion: overwhelm, unable to relax, anxiety.

Emotional exhaustion: Losing interest in the things you used to enjoy, low motivation for work, even anticipation of success doesn’t motivate. Disillusionment with success. Loss of interest in job/career. Low productivity and engagement.

Juggling a lot: feeling the burden of too many responsibilities, too much work, a never-ending to-do list, feel pressure of time, feel like you are not in control of your day, procrastination as a result of dragging yourself through the day. Working too hard, nights, weekends, too little personal time. Finding yourself sacrificing personal time & interests.

How would you define or describe the opposite of burnout?

The opposite of burnout would be Energized, Engaged and Enthusiastic!

There is ample energy, interest, and enthusiasm to do something. Being fully engaged in what you do and doing it with efficiency. A feeling of aliveness as you go through your day!

This might be intuitive to you, but it will be instructive to expressly articulate this. Some skeptics may argue that burnout is a minor annoyance and we should just “soldier on’’ and “grin and bear it.” Can you please share a few reasons why burnout can have long-term impacts on our individual health, as well as the health and productivity of our society?

When we just ‘soldier on’ when burned out as opposed to taking time to refresh or recharge, we are emptying the cup. Continuing to empty the cup takes a toll on our mental, emotional, and physical health, which can manifest as problems in relationships, health and career and eventually lead to a lackluster life.

Doing something even when you are burnt out is going to have an impact on the quality of not just what you do, but your entire life, including relationships and health. You may lose passion or enthusiasm, drag yourself through the day, get triggered easily. Eventually you will feel like you are not giving your best, your potential is not being met, and this could result in career stagnation, even if you are good at it.

Not taking care of burnout eventually will activate resistance, which results in procrastination and low productivity. Imagine there is a part of you that wants to keep getting things done and keep on juggling things. But there is another part of you that is crying out for rest. Not addressing this internal imbalance results in conflict between these parts of you and will create resistance to even doing the things you want to.

From your experience, perspective, or research, what are the main causes of burnout?

In my experience, the #1 reason for burnout is non-optimal use of life force energy. The most valuable personal resource you have access to, that you employ to move your life forward is your own life force energy.

By this I mean your mental energy (thoughts, beliefs, words and how you choose to communicate), your emotional energy (emotions, feelings), your physical energy (choices, decisions, actions). How you choose to use this resource determines the experience you have and your reality.

Are you using your life force energy consciously or unconsciously? When its use is distorted or used inefficiently, life will reflect that in the form of imbalance and eventually burnout.

We often think of burnout as resulting from too many things to do. But that is a result that occurs much later down the line. When you examine how you are using your energy, you will get clues from your default mental and emotional state.

If these are low, then you know that low thoughts, beliefs, and emotions are the hidden drains to life force energy. Your action then results from that low state and will have a detrimental impact.

For example, let’s look at mental energy: If your thoughts are negative, they immediately impact your emotions. Emotions are what charge up your actions. Positive emotions move you forward in a positive way. Negative emotions drain energy.

If your mental and emotional state is low by default, you are already starting out with a deficit of energy. Add to this the never-ending to-do list, then you get caught in a cycle of burnout very quickly.

Even if you recharge yourself, if by default your mental and emotional state is low or is ping ponging, then you cannot sustain the positive charge.

Another reason for burnout is disconnection from our life purpose.

In my coaching practice, when I work with someone experiencing burnout, I ask if they are simply feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work they have on their plate or do they feel that their expression is changing; what they care about, how they want to express through their work, is changing. They may not like what they are doing anymore, or they never liked it in the first place. They may not know what their life purpose is, and don’t have time/energy to explore it, so they continue to do the same old things, which burns them out even more.

With both reasons, it is key to first optimize your use of life force energy, i.e. having clear thoughts, emotions and actions is key to dissolving burnout and directing the use of your life force energy forward towards the things that truly sustain and regenerate you.

What can an individual do if they are feeling burned out by work? How does one reverse it? How can you “get your mojo back?” Can you please share your “5 Things You Should Do If You Are Experiencing Work Burnout?”.

To reverse burnout sustainably, it’s necessary to go to the root of the issues that lead to energy drains, many of which are hidden from our conscious awareness.

It’s necessary to become self-aware of how you are using this precious resource, your life force energy (thoughts, emotions, actions) and optimize it. And then create the conditions for transforming burnout.

1. Uplevel your mental energy: Start by honestly examining your default mental state and uplevel it. Consistent low-level thoughts or negative thoughts have a detrimental impact on our morale and energy. Observe your inner talk and immediately stop negative self-talk. Notice the quality of your thoughts when you are going about your day. Are you grumpy, critical, judgmental, thinking the worst-case scenario, ruminating about past unpleasant incidents? Stop these thoughts in their tracks and shift into something more neutral. This may feel difficult initially but with just a little practice you will start to change your dominant negative thought pattern. This will have an impact on your morale & energy quickly.

2. Uplevel your emotional energy: The second hidden source of energy drains are unresolved emotions. By unresolved emotions I mean emotions left over from past unpleasant experiences, that still bring up the pain when recalled. The body uses a lot of energy to keep this in place. To understand this better, start to notice your default emotional state. Is it sad, melancholic, anxious, grumpy? Are you ruminating about an unpleasant incident from many years ago that left behind bitterness and anger? Do you feel resentful when you think of a situation? Do you feel grief from a loss that, and are you helping yourself express it in a healthy way? The unexpressed or unresolved emotions from past experiences, especially anger, resentment, and grief, are a big energy drain. How often do you feel joy and how long can you sustain it? It’s important to uplevel our default emotional state because without this it’s hard to sustain a positive state of mind. A great tool that helps with both the default mental & emotional state is the practice of Tapping (Emotional Freedom Technique). It clears negative emotions, even heavy ones from the past, uplevels the mental state and enables the brain and body to let of stress. If done consistently it helps you become aware of these hidden sources of drains and plugs them very quickly.

3. Uplevel your actions: We often say yes and commit to many things simply because we can. But the unintentional direction of your actions will always backfire. Here are some ways to uplevel your actions:

• Pay attention to what actions drain you. What degrades or scatters your life force energy and attention? Awareness of this is key so you can stop it. If looking at your phone and email 1st thing in the morning drains you, don’t do it!
• What judgements do you have around rest and productivity? We tend to see our worth from the lens of how much we accomplish but that is not sustainable.
• Revise expectations of yourself and others. People pleasing, doing things to live up to other’s expectations gets exhausting. We train others how to treat us. Get familiar with what is your motivation for doing a particular task — why did you say yes to it? Is there an obligation you are trying to fulfill? Is it yours to do? Do you set strong boundaries?
• Get intentional with everything in your life, particularly the stuff that is repetitive. What actions are you entangled with on a daily basis and how can you optimize them?

4. Bring back balance: We experience imbalance due to incorrect use of life force energy. Putting out too much energy (constant doing) but not refilling adequately or not giving yourself the self-care that you uniquely need leads to imbalance which leads to burnout.

Know how your fuel burns, recognizing when you are tired and what energizes you effectively. Do you take a pause before back-to-back tasks?

What balance means to you is unique to you, so get to know yourself well. What truly recharges and energizes you at all levels — mental, emotional, physical, spiritual? Honor all your unique needs. In my coaching practice, I work with folks to identify the different aspects of them and their unique needs. Your astrology natal chart will give you clues to the different aspects of your personalities and their needs may all be different and often one will dominate over the others.

For some folks being with friends or doing something active is recharging, for some, it’s draining! For me it means large amounts of time in solitude & nature. Creating space in my life for stillness is important because I’ve realized that’s how my energy builds up. This is a beautiful lesson I learned from my QiGong practice!

Finally, are you doing the things that feed you at a soul level — what is yours to do and authentic to do that refills you, your passion, what you love? Without this everything else in life just becomes part of a long to-do list. Living your life purpose is what truly recharges and brings back enthusiasm for life! Don’t let life be all about responsibilities, expectations, and to-do lists. It’s equally important to allow yourself to be filled with joy with the things you love to do consistently, even every day and not just weekends or vacations.

5. Become familiar with the season of life you are in: Just like how nature cycles through the 4 seasons, so do the phases of our lives. We have spring, where there is new growth and potential and new phases, summer when things start to flourish and grow, autumn when we start to harvest the fruits of what grew, and then winter which is a time to let go, go inwards and rest and renew.

Unfortunately, in our current culture of 100% productivity all the time, only spring and especially summer are given importance. So naturally this imbalance leads to burnout, especially if you are not familiar with the seasons of your own life.

eg during my midlife awakening, I became aware of midlife planetary transits related to Pluto. Pluto transits are like Winter. It’s a time to let go of the old, old ways of thinking, being, old heavy emotions, old patterns.

It’s impossible to go into the freshness of spring if we are still carrying around the burden of the past.

So, during Pluto transits, the body will naturally feel more tired, because it is releasing a lot and needs more rest than before.

If you are going through a winter phase, but still trying to operate as if you are in summer, very quickly burnout will happen.

Winter phase is when we are going through major change, often that comes with loss or a crisis.

Honoring the cycles and seasons of your life is key to honoring the true nature within you and to live in balance.

I see a lot of people in my coaching practice who are going through a winter phase in their life, even if they are wanting to move towards a new vision.

It is essential to know how to traverse the 4 different seasons, so you are honoring your natural energy flow and how your fuel burns.

In summary, this is an invitation to create your life consciously and intentionally. You can try to fix causes of burnout but if you continue to use life force energy unconsciously or do the things that do not ultimately align to your unique path, then you’ll get burned out again.

Transforming burnout is a combination of proactively purging (thoughts, emotions, actions) what does not feel aligned to your life and intentionally directing your life force energy to what is most aligned at that time. It’s a practice and does take self-responsibility and setting of boundaries.

What can concerned friends, colleagues, and life partners do to help someone they care about reverse burnout?

It’s essential to not take burnout for granted or as a regular part of living life, but to provide a space to hear the person out.

Sometimes people need a non-judgmental space to share what they are experiencing and to be given an opportunity to share what they need in that moment at a mental, emotional, and physical level. How can you help them with their needs?

Help them recognize that an alternative way of living is possible. An honest conversation about priorities and values can help them get clear on what is the most important thing that needs focus. It can also help to manage expectations, honestly evaluate what they are signed up to do and lovingly bring awareness if something is being done out of obligation and can be released.

What can employers do to help their staff reverse burnout?

It’s important to recognize that everything that grows goes through a cycle of birth, growth and death and honoring that cycle is what allows for sustainable expansion.

Recognize that time off is an integral part of personal care and do not equate a person’s value with how many hours they are working.

If this is not being modeled by leadership, then it will be harder for employees to feel safe or comfortable to do the same.

These ideas are wonderful, but sadly they are not yet commonplace. What strategies would you suggest to raise awareness about the importance of supporting the mental wellness of employees?

I think it’s important to be aware of how unresolved emotions can be a big drain on the body and ultimately impact mental, emotional, and physical wellness. Making available programs and resources that provide a safe space for personal development, developing self-awareness and transforming these can go a long way to supporting employees.

What are a few of the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they try to reverse burnout in themselves or others? What can they do to avoid those mistakes?

One common mistake when it comes to reversing burnout is not taking authentic self-expression into consideration. Ask yourself, do you feel fully expressed in your career and life? Is this something you still love to do but are just tired and overwhelmed by the amount of work on your plate? Or is it something you no longer want to do?

This is important to know, because when we are in a phase of transition or anytime we are meant to grow out of our comfort zone, when we are meant to transition into something new, then no amount of pushing yourself in the old is going to help! Pursuing a new path requires us to put in time, energy, and resources into learning new skills. But if you are burned out and don’t have the time or energy to put into exploring something new, then the problem exacerbates, because you will not feel fully recharged till you are expressing authentically.

When our authentic essence does not flow out into our life, through our thoughts, communication, actions, and expression, if we don’t live our essence out in a practical way, this depresses life force energy.

To avoid this, watch how your life force energy is being spent and proactively optimize it which allows for more enthusiasm to explore new areas of interests.

Ok, we are nearly done. You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.

One aspect of personal transformation I am passionate about is to help people understand the negative impacts of unresolved emotions, how that shapes your inner voice to sound like a critic and provide tools to transform these so their true authentic voice and higher expression can come through. All my services address this in one way or other.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

Jessica Ortner of “The Tapping Solution”. I saw a video by Jessica many years ago, when I was at the beginning of my transformational journey. She was demonstrating Tapping and I tried it out & immediately emotions came up. I then realized what a powerful tool Tapping is, and it became a daily practice of mine. It is what made emotional clearing possible for me and allowed me to dive into my personal transformation with courage and eventually pursue new paths. I now bring the practice of Tapping into my coaching work. I deeply appreciate the work that Jessica & her siblings have done to promote mental and emotional wellness!

How can our readers further follow your work online?

You can sign up for a free 45-page e-book called “The 12 Paths to Impeccable Personal Power” on my website https://activateyourtruthandpower.com/

On the website you will find lots of content to support the expression of your authentic voice. I have several complimentary offerings that include weekly articles, videos on my YouTube channel and a discovery session called Awaken Your Authentic Voice.

Other services I offer are astrology chart readings and creative workshops to transform the inner critic into your Muse and uncover the playful brilliance within you.

My courses Authentic Voice and Power of Balance, connect you to your unique superpowers, awakening aliveness & joy that spills into your life & career!

Thank you for these really excellent insights, and we greatly appreciate the time you spent with this. We wish you continued success and good health!

Thank You!